Arabic Prepositions
Study the following examples carefully, taking note of the final vowel of the nouns following the prepositions.
English Arabic
in the house فِي البيتِ
on the desk عَلَى المكتبِ
under the chair تَحْتَ الكرسيِّ
in front of the car أَمَامَ السيارةِ
behind the door خَلْفَ البابِ
Each phrase above starts with a preposition. After the preposition there is a definite noun, which ends in a ــِـ. This is due to the preposition. The noun could also have been indefinite.
Vowel ending
A noun coming after a preposition will end in ــِـ or ــٍـ, depending on whether it is definite or not.
However, if it is dual or sound masculine plural, the change does not occur in the final vowel but instead in the second last letter - i.e the ا or و - which becomes a ي , while the final vowel (on the ن) will remain the same. Therefore it will end in:
- يْنِ if it is dual, definite or not
- يْنَ if it is sound masculine plural, definite or not
Nominal sentences with preposition
This construction ( preposition + noun ) can be used as the second part of the nominal sentence.
English Arabic
the child is in the house الطفلُ في البيتِ
the book is on the desk الكتابُ على المكتبِ
the ball is under the chair الكُرَةُ تحت الكرسيِ
the bicycle is in front of the car الدَرَّاجةُ أمام السيارةِ
the broom is behind the door المِكْنَسةُ خلف البابِ
Other prepositions
For other prepositions see vocabulary section.
Summary
In this lesson we learned that:
- prepositions are always followed by nouns
- nouns after prepositions can be definite or not
- a preposition and its following noun can make up the second part of the nominal sentence
Vocabulary
English Arabic
over فَوْقَ
from مِنْ
to إِلَى
by بِـ
(away) from عَنْ
with مَعَ
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